Always Dark

Chapter 13

We ate dinner in the school's cafeteria, it was one of the few places in the school that was actually cleared of zombies. The cafeteria had a linoleum floor with brown and blue swirls on it, and brick walls. The cafeteria was lit up well with oil lamps, the giant windows in the back, that thankfully were way above the zombies heads, the skylights and a medium sized fire in the middle. The fire was sitting on some dirt that they had obviously brought in. And all the tables and anything flammable was moved a good distance away from the fire. The cafeteria only had three octagonal tables, and four rectangular tables, the rest were either pushed against the back or in front of the exits of any room that they didn't want walkers in, which included the cafeteria doors. I chose to sit at one of the rectangular tables with my dinner of a can of beefaroni which I heated up with the fire and a soda from one of the schools vending machines. Before the apocalypse soda was one of my favorite drinks, but I didn't drink it all the time. I loved the way it fizzed when you opened the can and made your eyes water, it was refreshing. I sat alone until Mae came over and sat across from me with her dinner. "Hi" she said in a quiet voice. I looked up and smiled,"Hi."

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked in a little bit louder of a voice and leaned towards me with a smile on her face.

"Sure" I said slightly nervous.

"Are you Roxana Raine?" She said instantly blushing.

I laughed lightly and said,"Yes."

"Oh my gosh!!! I knew it!" She squealed and jumped up and down in her seat. This drew the attention of everyone else who were giving me questioning looks. "Just don't tell anyone, please?" I asked and Mae nodded before pretending to zip her lips. Which caused me to giggle, it has been a while since I last laughed or giggled. It was quiet for a little bit while we ate until Caiden walked over and sat down next to Mae. He leaned over and whispered something in her ear, as he did this I scrutinized them trying to figure out if they were related. They didn't look alike at all, Caiden had dark brown hair and green eyes, while Mae had red hair and blue eyes. Yep definitely not related although Mae seemed to get along with Caiden well from what I have seen. Mae smiled as Caiden pulled away and nodded her head, then Caiden peered at me cautiously before he got up taking Mae's trash with him. Once he was out of earshot I asked," Is he your brother?" To which Mae shook her head no, and looked down at her fingers. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean...mean to make you upset....I'm sorry" I apologized seeing that I touched a soft spot. I realized that Mae must have lost her brother or perhaps everyone close to her but Zara and Caiden. Sighing I got up and walked over to Mae gently placing my hand on her shoulder before placing my can in a box near the exit, and turning to Zara. "So what's the room situation?" I prompted, as I looked at the group.